“Looting the 13th Floor” by Eric Vall is a super fun reverse-isekai story full of likable characters and well-paced action with monster girls and pirates. I, for one, could not ask for more.
Our hero Liam is your average I.T. professional working for the man in a soul-sucking, dead-end job full of creeps and a-holes. Which is fairly typical for the haremlit genre. But unlike his brethren, Liam doesn’t get a reprieve when he’s whisked away to a magical alternate world. Because the alternate world in this story, as you may have guessed from the title, is hidden on a mysterious thirteenth floor on his twelve-story-tall office building.
This alternate world is full of hot girls who need rescuing from the disgusting creatures who keep them as trophies. And when Liam starts slaughtering the captors, he ends up with a whole lot of riches to,well… loot (again, not a surprise if you’ve read the title). So in order to maintain his access to this fantastic world, Liam needs to keep his job. And keep his new girlfriends out of trouble as they explore our world. And that’s a handful…
A lot of reviewers compare “Looting the 13th Floor” to “Backyard Dungeon” by Logan Jacobs. Which is totally fair. Both stories involve regular guys finding a world of maidens and treasure and bringing them back to his own reality. But this is a great example of how two authors can start with the same concept and each execute it differently enough to make it their own. Both of these stories have their own merits and unique qualities.
“Looting the 13th Floor” is a fun, popcorn-movie of a book, with minimal spice and lots of heart.